In the passage, Death was personified to show how the old
man seems to have perceived his impending death despite not having seen nor
heard the presence of the murderer in the room. Death had the characteristics
of having the ability to stalk, to have a shadow and to envelop its victim. All
of which are humanistic attributes that death in its real sense could not
possibly enact. It creates the tension on the murder that is about to happen
and the thoughts of the murderer on his victim.
